Elham Asaad Buaras
Indian authorities have unlawfully expelled hundreds of Bengali-speaking Muslims, including Indian citizens, to Bangladesh in recent months, according to a detailed exposé by Human Rights Watch (HRW). This sweeping expulsion campaign has involved forced deportations, violent pushbacks, and arbitrary detentions.
The report, published on July 23, accuses India’s Hindu nationalist government of violating domestic and international human rights standards.
Spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the campaign has seen long-standing Indian residents and registered refugees expelled without due process, often under threat of violence. Entire communities have been targeted, homes demolished, and vulnerable individuals—including women, children, and the elderly—forcibly removed without adequate legal review.
The expulsions escalated after a deadly April attack on Hindu tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. In the aftermath, BJP-governed states began widespread detentions of Muslims, often refusing to verify their citizenship status and seizing mobile phones and identity documents, leaving many unable to contact family members.
HRW interviewed 18 people in June, including deportees and relatives. Many described being threatened, beaten, or forced at gunpoint to cross into Bangladesh.
In one case, Khairul Islam, a 51-year-old schoolteacher from Assam, was expelled on May 26 despite his citizenship case pending before the Supreme Court. “The BSF officer beat me when I refused to cross the border into Bangladesh and fired rubber bullets four times in the air,” he said. He returned to India two weeks later.
According to Bangladesh’s Border Guard, over 1,500 Muslims, including about 100 Rohingya refugees, were pushed across the border between May 7 and June 15. Dozens later proved their Indian citizenship and were readmitted, underscoring the arbitrary nature of the expulsions.
India is a party to multiple international treaties—including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights—that prohibit discrimination and guarantee legal safeguards before expulsion. Yet, the Indian Supreme Court has declined to block deportations, even dismissing reports of Rohingya refugees being forced into the sea near Myanmar as a “beautifully crafted story,” despite a lack of government denial.
HRW found that Assam’s Foreigners Tribunals, which determine citizenship, often operate with little transparency and show prejudice against Bengali Muslims. Since 1964, these tribunals have declared over 165,000 people irregular immigrants, often based on minor documentation errors or name discrepancies.
A daily wage worker from Barpeta district, whose appeal was pending in the Supreme Court, was pushed into Bangladesh on May 26. “I walked into Bangladesh like a dead body. I thought they [the BSF] would kill me.” His lawyer confirmed the deportation violated court orders and lacked basic procedural checks.
Others, like 67-year-old Maleka Khatun, were deported despite severe health conditions. Khatun, who had been released on bail after six years in detention, was forcibly removed in the early hours of May 27. Her son only learnt of her whereabouts when she called from a borrowed phone in Bangladesh.
In Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, BJP-run administrations have carried out mass demolitions and detentions of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, often without prior notice or legal justification.
In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, more than 10,000 homes, mosques, and businesses were razed between April and May, targeting areas claimed to house “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.” UN human rights experts condemned the demolitions, warning that invoking “national security” or “foreign nationality” does not justify evictions without legal safeguards.
In Maharashtra, internal migrants from West Bengal were also deported. Nazimuddin Sheikh, a mason in Mumbai for five years, was detained on June 9 despite having a valid ID.
“The BSF did not listen when we told them we were Indian. If we spoke too much, they beat us with sticks.”
He was expelled to Bangladesh and only returned after West Bengal’s government intervened.
The state’s Chief Minister criticised the targeting of Bengali speakers, “Is speaking Bengali a crime? You should be ashamed that by doing this, you’re making everyone who speaks Bengali appear to be Bangladeshi.”
In Rajasthan, at least 148 people were deported, while in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district, 444 Muslim migrant workers were rounded up, with 44 still held in makeshift detention centres.
Even tribal communities have been targeted. In Jaipur, two cousins were detained simply after police asked their names. They were released after their father presented voter IDs, land records, and school transfer certificates to authorities.
The HRW exposé details India’s worsening treatment of Rohingya refugees, many of whom fled genocide in Myanmar and are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
In May, Indian authorities reportedly transferred around 40 Rohingya refugees to an Indian naval ship and forced them into the sea near Myanmar with only life jackets. Their current status is unknown.
A 20-year-old Rohingya refugee, devastated by the deportation threat, said, “I escaped to India seeking safety and dignity, but the suffering did not end—it only changed form… My adulthood faces a fate worse than anything I’ve survived.”
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews called the deportations “an affront to human decency” and a “serious violation” of the principle of nonrefoulement—the prohibition against returning individuals to countries where they face serious harm.
India has deported Rohingya since 2018 despite unsafe conditions in Myanmar and rising Hindu nationalist hostility toward Muslims domestically.
HRW and rights advocates are calling for an immediate halt to the deportations, proper legal procedures, and independent investigations into abuses by Indian security forces.
Aman Wadud, a human rights lawyer in Assam, said, “They are picking people up, and there is no information about their whereabouts.”
He filed a formal complaint with the National Human Rights Commission in May but has yet to receive a response.
On June 5, over 100 academics, activists, and lawyers signed an open letter condemning the deportations.
“Pushbacks also risk putting people into grave peril,” the letter warned, highlighting the dangers posed by border guards or arbitrary detention in Bangladesh.
Despite mounting criticism, Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed that pushbacks would continue—even in cases where individuals are listed in the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“We won’t send them to a tribunal; we will just keep pushing them back,” he said.
HRW warns this policy risks cementing a broader pattern of discrimination against Muslims, especially those who are impoverished and marginalised.
“The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorised immigrants,” said Pearson. “But their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims and undercut India’s long history of providing refuge to the persecuted.”
Map: The northeastern Indian states bordering Bangladesh, including Tripura—one of the primary border zones affected by forced expulsions.
Source: Maps of India
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